In hot climates, and during spells of hot weather in temperate climates, it is common for people to wear headgear to provide protection and shading from the sun. Some people are also required to wear headgear for reasons connected with their work. Whilst there are proven benefits in wearing headgear in sunny weather, e.g. increased protection against skin cancer, the advantages are offset by the fact that a substantially enclosed air space is formed between the bowl of the hat and the wearers head. This space can entrap hot and humid air which causes the wearers head to become hot and the wearer to become extremely uncomfortable.
Items of headgear are sometimes formed with ventilation openings, but in general these are too small to provide effective ventilation. In GB 411 707 the ventilation openings are covered by a hat band 4.
WO 94/09658 discloses means for ventilating and stabilising headgear in the form of a flexible strip having, on one side, means of attachment to the headgear, and on its other side, a plurality of resilient or flexible spacers for spacing the headgear from a wearers head. A similar arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,901.
GB 485 873, GB 713 851 and U.S. Pat. No.4,274,157 all disclose a continuous sweat band which is held away from the inside of the hat by means of spacers.
The present invention seeks to provide a new and inventive form of ventilation device for headgear.